tube or tubeless tyres?
 

Hello there, I have been wondering this subject for quite a long time, as a dirtbike rider, I got use to change tubes, etc when getting a flat in the woods, so, Now, I just bought a little bike for city traffic only, and I do not know what tyre to choose, tube or tubeless tyre, I reckon the tube tyre would be better on off road and the tubeless tyre would be better on the road.

Now, I see this little bike can handle some off road usage, gently though and I am just wondering what would be the best option, what do you reckon here? the bike is a Suzuki GN125, cheap tyres anyway

any help would be fantastic

Can you choose which wheels you have?

The wheels will tell you which tyres. Basically, most modern cast wheels used tubeless which means the bead is designed to seal. Regardless of if you fit a tube or not you'll need a bead breaker to get inside. Fit a tube and get a puncture and you are waiting for the recovery truck. Spoked rims have the same issue, you can run the tubeless tyre with a tube but can forget fixing a puncture without half a ton of press as the tyre bead will be tight.

The bike manufacturers don't seem to care about punctures. BMW as standard fitted tubeless tyres with tubes on the F650 and Moto Guzzi do the same trick. This combination really does give the worst of both systems. Only Triumph seem to make any effort fitting tube type tyres on the spoked bikes.

The plug kits work just as well as new tubes and are a lot easier. If you can run cast wheels I'd run them tubeless. If you are going off road and really need spoked wheels I'd make sure you run proper tubed tyres.

Andy

There is another topic here on HUBB somewhere discussing whether fitting tyres without tubes on rims not designed for this is safe or not.

I like tubeless tyres, because you get less punctures and fix them without removing anything but the nail. However, the rim must be marked tubeless or you run the risk of blowouts, should the tyre be pushed off the side of the rim (pothole...).

Thanks for that Threewheelbonnie and beddhist, I run "cast wheels", (OEM wheels) the bike is almost new, (600 kays). The strange part here is that the tyres have tube tyres instead tubeless tyres, having tube tyres is a reason of costs in this chinese suzuki. I have some plugs from the old kit of my TDM850 so I will use it here. Ok, thanks again, I am going to use tubeless tyres then, taking advantage of the cast wheels and now, a technical question.

Running tubeless tyres in off road, I mean gravel and some dirt, what is the air pressure that the tyre can cope with off riding?, with my TTR, I was on the 17-18 PSI range, I do not know if tubeless tyres can take these low pressure, maybe the they can or..... what do you reckon?

here is a pic of the bike

At the risk of repeating myself: I don't think you have considered whether the rims are marked and designed for tubeless tyres. If they aren't, then they are missing the humps on either side, that prevents a tubeless tyre from jumping off the shoulder into the bed, causing instant loss off all air. If you then decrease the tyre pressure you will greatly increase the chances of that happening.

If the rims are marked tubeless then I think you can safely decrease the air pressure. I have run on a flat tyre with my K100RT and it didn't jump off. That's the beauty of tubeless.

Cast wheels with OEM tube tyres would have me looking for the markings as Beddhist says. My MZ (1994) has cast wheels, but the casting is so porous they ran a tube tyre and tube. I wonder if the Chinese had the same idea?

Andy

Thanks,I was reading all the codes written on the rim but nothing, it says the measure of the rim, just that, I was hoping to find something like TL rim or something. I thought the tube tyres as an OEM product was just a matter of costs (being a chinese bike, anyhow it is a Suzuki).

thanks

Tubliss
 

I was on a site selling various motorcycle accessories and came across a new type of inner tube for tyres that turns a spoked wheel into a rim that you run with no tube fitted.

Only draw back i can see (if they work) is that they dont sell them in the 17" size which is the size that most Jap DS bikes run on the rear.

Heres a link,

Nuetech Products

They also have a clip to watch.

Nuetech Products

Ian

This is the problem i had with my 1985 bmw, so now I run a tube in the front wheel. In my view you 'should' run tubeless tyres on tubeless rims. but use of the tube being down to need. Never try to run a tyre in tubeless mode on non tubeless rims, although again the choice of tyre type is optional. ie can run tubless tyres on non tubeless rims, but with a tube.
When running with tubes you 'ought' to use a security bar to ensure the tyre does not creep if it loses air pressure.